Poltergeist - Extended Cut [DVD] [2015]

Not sure which I prefare this or the original

I actually enjoyed this, honestly I did. The original is a perfectly good film and if you're only gonna watch one Poltergeist flick then you're probably better off rewinding back to the 80's but if you're desperate for a new fix then I reckon you could do a lot worse.The basic set up is the same. A family (parents and three kids) move into a new home and are instantly plagued by things that go bump in the night - the youngest child then goes missing and everything hits the fan. There's no prolonged build up of tension here, they get straight to it - it's far from subtle, being more of a balls to the wall shock fest from the early going. Loud, brash and CGI heavy, it's not for the purists and to be fair it's all totally ridiculous.You either go with it or you don't and I found it to be pretty good fun (honestly). There's some decent jumps and frights along the way, usually of the standard sudden LOUD noise variety. Sam Rockwell is ace (as he usually is), the younger actors are pretty good and everyone else does their job. It's not always entirely clear which accent Jared Harris is going for but he's entertaining enough to get away with it. There's a decent sense of humour on show and overall, if you're in a forgiving mood, this is worth a watch for some breezy, dumb fun.

The 'Bowen' family 'Eric' (Sam Rockwell) 'Amy' (Rosemarie DeWitt) teen-daughter 'Kendra' (Saxon Sharbino) young Son'Griffin' (Kyle Catlett) and 6-year old 'Madison' (Kennedi Clements) move into a new home nestled on a fairly new estate.Almost immediately 'Griffin' feels uncomfortable in his new surroundings the old tree in the garden of much concern to himYoung 'Madison' also discovers unusual aspects within the house and soon appears to converse with something that isn'tvisible.Soon electrical items around the house begin to default, could it be that being so close to the pylons is causing electricalirregularities, or is there another explanation ??'Eric' and 'Amy' whist attending a dinner party learn that the estate they had set up home at had been built on top of acemetery, though all the corpses had supposedly been relocated.....being told this does not faze 'Eric' at all.Meanwhile back at home where elder daughter 'Kendra' is baby-sitting her younger siblings things are beginning to becomequite scary for all in the house, they are all experiencing out-of-this-World happenings during which 'Maddie' disappears.'Eric' can no longer dismiss that which his children had been trying to tell him, things have become desperate........time to call in the psychics, the 'Bowen's' want young 'Maddie' back, the evil presence is powerful, they need more help inthe shape of paranormal expert 'Carrigan Burke' (Jared Harris)............The Spirits will not give back that which they have takeneasily.I'm not a fan of re-makes in general very few seem to match-up with the original efforts, though i guess if you know little of theearlier filming' of the stories you don't have comparisons to draw.For me, this falls well short of the original, though it does have i's moments especially toward the latter part of the film.Somehow, for me, it fails to create the tension of the original leading up to it's conclusion.Like many re-makes, though i'd only read negative thoughts on the film, curiosity as is often the case did get the better of me...Includes both original cinema and extended ''extreme'' versions of the film.Plus - Alternative Ending and Stills Gallery.

I wouldn't say it's as good as the original film but it's not bad either they could have done a lot more with today's technology when it comes to the special effects I was a bit surprised to see the shows the actor from Iron Man 2 I think his name was Sam Rockwell I believe he was playing Justin hammer although I still believe we could have done a lot more of this film it's ok basically my opinion on it

I was expecting this to be awful... But you know what, it is actually pretty good. Let's face it, nothing could be as good as the original and they shouldn't have commissioned a remake and yak yak yak yak yak yak yak... Had this not had the shoulders of a giant to stand on, this would have made a 5 star rating - but it stole a lot of ideas wholesale from the original, updated to appease the "we need to see it" millennial crowd (OK Boomer... whatever). Clearly not as good as the original, but riffed on it enough but at the same time introducing it's own ideas to make it relevant. I really enjoyed it... hence the 4 star rating..

I loved the original 1982 version of this Stephen Spielberg story (directed by Tobe Hooper). He has always been the great master of the jump scare in his stories, not least in this one, with trees like Ents attacking, things maybe under the bed, the scary clown, noises behind doors, so my expectations of the original being even equalled were low. However, it soon becomes clear this is not a remake, but more like an update, or cover version, with some of the original dialogue, the same family setup, with additions such as an iPhone, a drone and GPS. Plus, Sam Rockwell as father Eric Bowen and Kyle Catlett who plays the troubled son Griffin are particularly excellent. I remember the original really well, down to the voice of "Tangina" (played by late Zelda Rubinstein) announcing "This house is clean!", but I liked the Celtic quirkiness of Jared Harris's Carrigan Burke, her 2015 medium equivalent. Although I knew what was likely to be coming, I was on the edge of my seat throughout - great story, updated well. More like an "homage" to original rather than an attempt to better it.

With all of the really negative reviews I watched this movie with pre-conceptions of it being bad. I'm glad I did because I was pleasantly surprised. It was a bit more far fetched than the original with some plot holes but as it was so long ago since I was the original I was not influenced by how the movie should be. I could see nothing wrong with the acting either. Overall it was a good movie. As a side note, I thought one actor in it reminded me of Richard Harris when he was younger. Note: Decided to check before I published this and found out it is his son Jared Harris.

Old firm favourite